An AI Surprise

To the Editor:

As a person who makes every effort to avoid using Artificial Intelligence, I was surprised to discover the AI issue so interesting that I read it front to back. Many contributors successfully use the technology to address specific questions, such as translating medical jargon into layman- speak; others use it to produce poetry and humor — thanks Carolyn Lehman! Still others such as Rebecca Robertson face the monumental task of adapting higher education to the AI revolution.

Most curious, for me, are those contributors who somehow establish emotional connections with an algorithm. Sorry, Rich Jordan, but when your “friend” tells you, “I can’t help but admire the complexity of sleep,” it is misstating the truth. It is not an “I.” It cannot “admire” anything, nor can it not “help but” anything. It is not lying to you because it cannot lie either. What it can do is digest human speech patterns and parrot them back to you in a manner that feigns human empathy. The noise you hear is coming from an empty…?

Doug Ingold, Arcata.